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Always Save the Girl: Averted — Buffy admits she'd now be willing to sacrifice Dawn to save the world.

Artistic License – Biology: They have the Prokaryote Stone crawl into Spike's eye because it will reach his brain, "via the optic nerve". But it actually appears to crawl under his eyelid and while under his skin it continues across his forehead. It's a wonder Spike can see with such a misaligned optic nerve.

Robin Wood: Oh, I know more about you than you think, Spike. See, I've been searching for you for a very, very long time. Ever since you killed my mother. Spike: I've killed a lot of people's mothers. Robin Wood: Yeah. You'd remember mine. She was a Slayer.

Call-Back: To "Helpless" (Giles betraying Buffy), and "The Gift" (Giles being willing to kill people that Buffy isn't, for the greater good).

Crossover: Willow receives a call from someone called Fred and tells Buffy she has to go to Los Angeles. She shows up in the Angel episode "Orpheus", where the Fang Gang use her magic skills to restore Angel's soul. Willow is vague as to her reasons for leaving, indicating that Buffy is being kept in the dark about the return of Angelus.

Curbstomp battle: When Spike overcomes his trigger and regains control of himself, Robin is BADLY out of his league.

Downer Ending: Giles tries to justify the death of Spike — Buffy informs him the attempt failed, then shuts her door in the face of the man who's been her mentor and Parental Substitute for the past seven years.

Dramatic Irony: Giles says that Spike (unlike Angel) lacks the responsibly to leave Sunnydale because he endangers everyone. Spike however had offered to do just that in "First Date", staying only because Buffy asked him to.

Willow talks of bringing back good news from her trip to Los Angeles; that would be another Slayer to fight alongside them (given Buffy's long-standing grudge against Faith, it's hardly surprising that Willow keeps that news to herself for now).

Scoobies and Potentials complain that Spike is getting a free pass from Buffy because of his not-a-relationship with her. This is another sign of the increasing tension that erupts in "Empty Places".

Andrew: (holding the phone) Uh, Willow...call for you from L.A. Somebody named Fred. The guy sounds kind of effeminate.

Half Truth: Wood doesn't try to hide from Giles that he's motivated by revenge, but neither does he say that the First is the one who tipped him off about Spike. This would cause Giles to realise that the First wants Spike dead, rather than an undead Manchurian Agent.

Once she's been turned into a vampire, William's mother throws all his weaknesses in his face — it's Spike realisation that the demon left out the things that his mother loved about him that allows Spike to get past it.

He's Back: Applies even more than "Get It Done" because Spike doesn't just go back to being pre-souled Spike, he finally becomes comfortable with Ensouled!Spike.

Spike: I spent a long time trying to track you down. Don't want the dance to end so soon, do you, Nikki? The music's just starting, isn't it?

Macho Masochism: Wood squeezing his stake until his hand bleeds after Spike saves his life.

Meaningful Echo: "The mission is what matters." Nikki's words to Robin are repeated to him by Buffy at the end of the episode.

Nikki Wood objecting to Spike calling her "luv", just as Buffy did in Season 6.

Mind-Control Music: Wood plays "Early One Morning" on his computer so Spike will revert to his murderous vampire self.

Mind Probe: Giles puts a Prokaryote stone inside Spike's head to try and discover how the First is controlling him. Spike is not pleased, seeing as this involves the stone liquifying and crawling into his head via the optic nerve.

Moral Dissonance: It would be fair enough if Buffy simply saw Spike as a good soldier they desperately needed, but she seems to deny that Wood even has any reason to be upset about the murder of his mother.

Shoot the Dog: Giles confronts Buffy about whether she would make the same choice again (Dawn vs. Saving the World) and she admits that life has taught her some dogs have to be shot and now she would sacrifice even Dawn if she had to in order to prevent the Apocalypse. She even outright tells Principal Wood she would be willing to let Spike kill him if Wood forces the issue, because Spike is the more useful soldier in the coming battle and she has to make the tough decisions if the world is going to survive.

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